Concerned Amazon staff claim it is impossible to social distance at Omega site

A PHOTOGRAPH taken inside Amazon's Omega site shows a large group of workers crowded together, despite social distancing guidance.

A source says the image was taken inside the workplace canteen, where they claim maintaining social distancing is impossible, and is not improving as the coronavirus crisis continues.

They said: "The staff are all still sitting together.

"The breaks to the canteen are not staggered safely and they are not social distancing."

Staff have also not been provided with personal protective equipment (PPE).

Amazon responded saying that proactive safety and hygiene measures were already in place at the Warrington warehouse, with staggered break and start times.

The Great Sankey site also said it is following Public Health England's advice regarding masks, where it states they are not recommended.

But, it said any employees wishing to wear a mask are welcome to do so.

A spokesperson for Amazon continued: "As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Amazon and our network of partners are helping communities around the world in a way that very few can — delivering critical supplies directly to the doorsteps of people who need them.

"Since the early days of this situation, we have worked closely with local authorities and our people to proactively respond, ensuring we continue to serve customers while taking care of our people.

"We implemented proactive measures at all of our facilities to protect our people, including increased cleaning, and maintaining social distance, including between drivers and customers when making deliveries.

"The health of our people is our top priority, and it’s important to us that they remain home if they’re sick or if they or someone in their home has had a fever in the last 24 hours.

"To support our people during this time we have increased entitlement to paid time off and are enabling people to take leaves of absence as appropriate.

"We also want to recognise our employees who are playing an essential role for people at a time when many of the services that might normally be there to support them are closed.

"To recognise the contribution our employees in the UK are making, we will be adding an additional £2 per hour worked from now through to the end of April.

"This is on top of our starting rate of £10.50 for the London area, and £9.50 for the rest of the UK.

"We will also increase the overtime premium to 100 per cent of hourly base rate for every overtime hour worked above 40 hours in a work week between now and April 30, 2020.

"As demand continues to increase, we are working to ensure we can continue to deliver to the most impacted customers while keeping our people safe.

"Many of these customers have no other way to get priority items and we want to be sure that we have the right resources in place to deliver on their needs.

"We are prioritising the intake and dispatch of items most needed by our customers right now.

"These are items such as food, health and personal care products, books and items needed to work from home."

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